News on Engaging men & boys

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa/NAROK, Kenya – “I felt embarrassed to be a girl and felt like it was a punishment,” recalled 13-year-old Faith, describing her first period.
She was living in a boarding school in Narok... Read more

JAYAPURA, Indonesia – “My daughter used to hide all sorts of things from me,” said Martina, 41, at a support group session in Jayapura, in the far-eastern Indonesian province of West Papua. “But here, we learn to talk... Read more

HABA TSEKA, Lesotho – “Before, I never used a condom, and I would force myself violently onto girls and young women,” said Kabelo*, 22, in rural Lesotho. A herder in Haba Tseka, he grew up in an area where violence is... Read more

SITTWE, Myanmar – More than 600,000 people, most of them Rohingya, have fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh since August, representing a massive escalation in an already grave humanitarian crisis. Yet many people remain in... Read more

TAULIHAWA, Nepal – "I often watch boys playing cricket on this ground. But today I caught a glimpse of girl cricketers in action," said Irfan Darji, a 13-year-old spectator at the final match in a trailblazing girls’... Read more

IMISHLI, Azerbaijan – Recent weeks have seen several high-profile cases of gender-based violence splashed across headlines. Millions of women around the world have demanded an end to these abuses – and, increasingly,... Read more

SHEBEL BERENTA, Ethiopia – Sileshi Deguale was busy working alongside his family, preparing their land for planting season, but he paused to recall how difficult the work was last year. His wife had been too ill to help... Read more

HARGEISA – Asha Ali Ibrahim, 41, has been performing female genital mutilation (FGM) on girls in Diaami, Hargeisa and other parts of Somalia since 1997. July and August are her busiest months of the year. “This is the... Read more

JAKARTA, Indonesia – Dita* never imagined that she would be a single mother at the age of 33. But after enduring 10 years of an abusive marriage, she found herself alone and struggling to raise two children.
Her husband... Read more

United Nations, New York/Beirut, Lebanon – An alarming rise in child marriages has been seen among the most vulnerable Syrian refugee populations in Lebanon, according to a newly completed survey conducted by UNFPA, the... Read more